Traumatic Stress Disorder In Clint Van Winkle's Soft Spots
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Soft Spots is a very detailed and intriguing book written by Clint Van Winkle, who is a former Marine who went to war on Valentine’s Day of 2003. He was involved in the battle of Nasiriya, which caused permanent scares in his life. After returning home from two tours of duty he was left with the memories of the war that begin to haunt him. He began to seek treatment for his distress at the Veterans Administration facility where he went through many rounds of therapy that he didn’t think was helpful, until he was diagnosed with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. He continues to struggle with his disorder experiencing flashbacks, vivid memories, and nightmares until he receives a different form of psychotherapy and realizes a part of him will always…show more content… 510). PTSD can be linked to a number of other psychological disorders such as depression, anxiety, and panic attacks. In order to be diagnosed by PTSD you have to have at least one of the following symptoms: 1) recurring memories of the event; 2) dreams associated with event; 3) having nightmares of the event; 4) having distress when reminded of the event; or 5) physical reaction to cues related to the event. Sergeant Van Winkle experienced almost all these symptoms but was in denial when first…show more content… He had received the diagnosis of PTSD on his first visit to the clinic and thought there was no possibility he could have this disorder. Until he started seeing the signs but he was still apprehensive about receiving therapy because he felt that no therapist could tell him how he felt unless they had seen and gone through the same experience as him. According to Marcia Clemmett from the CQ Researcher website she states that “A wave of…mental disorders — mainly post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression — has swept over the U.S. military in the past few years, likely triggered by the stress of repeated deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. (2009)”. It wasn’t until he met Joseph Little who was a readjustment counselor and a former veteran that he finally started to accept therapy as a way of helping him heal. Dr. Little performed a type of therapy called eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), which made Clint go back and forth between his memories. From walking to school in Wales when he was most happy to his memory of stepping on a dead Marine, which he called a soft spot, while trying to rummage up parts of a destroyed vehicle to bring back to his base. Clint felt he could trust this therapy because it is user centered, and lets you control your own thoughts and the psychotherapist only steps in if your memories start to cause you to lose it. I learned from this